Sarah Palin cheered by Republicans meeting in New Orleans

Chris Granger/The Times-PicayuneSarah Palin had to wait a full minute before the applause quelled enough for her to speak.

Former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin lived up to her billing Friday as the top draw of the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, rousing several thousand party loyalists with her call for "common-sense" conservatism, delivered with sharp elbows wrapped in folksy charm.

"From now until November, whenever they say, 'Yes, we can,' you say, 'Oh, no you don't,'" she said in a riff on President Barack Obama's campaign slogan. "There is no shame in being the party of no if the other side is proposing an idea that violates our values, violates our principles, violates our Constitution."

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who was warmly but more modestly welcomed than Palin, opened his time at the podium by stating definitively, "I am not running for president of the United States of America," presumably referring only to 2012.

That is consistent with what he has said publicly in Louisiana in recent months. But it effectively served to downgrade the importance of his appearance at a nationally televised event that is not just a pep rally for the congressional mid-term elections but also an audition for future national GOP candidates in front of activists, donors and national reporters.

View full sizeChris Granger/The Times-PicayuneGov. Bobby Jindal, right, signs autographs after his speech Friday at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans.

At his most animated in an otherwise muted 25-minute address, Jindal said, "We've been fighting this legislation for more than a year, and now there is a question about whether we should work for a repeal. Only in Washington would this be a tough question. ... We should not only be the party of 'no' on this health care bill. We should be the party of 'hell no.' "

A friendly crowd for all speakers, the assembly exploded for Palin, who had to wait a full minute before the applause quelled enough for her to speak. If the reaction is any indication, Palin is the favorite in the conference's presidential straw poll that concludes today. Jindal and Perry are not on the ballot. Nor is former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who spoke Thursday night. Former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota are on the ballot but are not attending the conference.

While Palin invoked her characteristic conversational style and unapologetic barbs -- she questioned global warming science, at one point referring to "Gore-gate," a swipe at Al Gore -- the former Alaska governor also managed to address policy issues during her 30 minutes at the podium.

She shifted quickly into world affairs, continuing her mockery of the president for signing a nuclear arms reduction treaty with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and accusing him of "coddling enemies" such as Iran and North Korea, while "alienating friends" such as Israel. Later referencing President Ronald Reagan, a common source of praise throughout the day, Palin failed to note that the Republican icon signed similar arms reduction agreements with Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev.

In a lengthy segment on energy, Palin urged the GOP to use energy as an issue in the fall campaigns, saying Obama is engaging in double talk with his recent proposal for expansion of offshore drilling. The president, she warned, is trying to attract votes for his larger cap-and-trade energy bill while others in his administration put up regulatory road blocks to growing domestic production.

"I hope the Senate Republicans tell him, 'You can drill all you want off the shores of Virginia, but you won't find bipartisanship down there,'" Palin said, later adding that "Republicans should hit the road and show Americans what a real 'all-of-the-above' energy plan is about."

She advocated even more offshore drilling, as she did in the 2008 presidential campaign, than Obama's proposal for limited expansion in the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. Alternative energy, she said, should be encouraged through tax incentives.

Spending history

In their advocacy for "smaller government," all three speakers mentioned profligate spending by Republicans previously in power.

Government expansion of power, Palin said, "did not start with Barack Obama."

Jindal said Republicans in Congress were "fired for cause," a line he has used before.

And Perry, whose passionate delivery came closest to matching Palin in crowd reaction, decried Republicans who "went to Washington, D.C. and we couldn't tell the difference between the Republicans and the Democrats. ... Don't tell me you're a Republican and spend all the money."

None of the speakers specifically tied existing national debt to the deficit spending of Reagan or Presidents George H.W. Bush or George W. Bush.

But Jindal offered a dose of realism with his encouragement for the coming campaigns: "Let's be honest: Elections have consequences. We control nothing in Washington. Our ideas won't get a fair hearing until we make gains in November."

Palin and Perry embraced the tea party movement, praising the conservative activists that have organized themselves since Obama's inauguration. Jindal made no mention of the group.

References to Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina mentions were peppered throughout Friday's speeches, in contrast to Thursday, when there was little to no mention of the storm, flood and recovery.

Palin praised New Orleans and its residents as "an inspiring city." Perry recounted a telephone call from then-Gov. Kathleen Blanco asking him to accept Louisiana refugees in 2005. "I told her, 'Bring 'em on. Bring 'em to the great state of Texas,'" he said. "And my goodness did they come.

"But what they found was a state with open arms. ... That's what makes this country great. I'm sure it would have been the same if it had been the governor of Texas calling the governor of Louisiana."

Jindal invited attendees to observe the recovery progress, but he put a limit on his welcome -- perhaps to the chagrin of French Quarter merchants -- by joking "I do have a word of warning to RNC staffers, you may want to stay away from Bourbon Street, just a word of advice."

That was a not-so-veiled reference to recent Republican National Committee expense reports showing payments for an evening for donors at a sex-themed adult club in California, besides outlays for limousines, private flights and expensive hotels.

The controversy renewed questions about embattled party Chairman Michael Steele, who is scheduled to speak Saturday in the conference's final general session.